Netanyahu to decide soon on facing Barak

Associated Press

Published Tuesday, December 05, 2000

JERUSALEM -- Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-yahu said Monday that he is close to deciding whether to challenge Ehud Barak for the premiership, saying the first priority must be to restore security after two months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Netanyahu currently holds a double-digit lead in opinion polls over Barak. The current Palestinian uprising has left many Israelis disillusioned with the prime minister and his handling of the peace process and Barak has been forced to call early elections.

Mobbed by journalists at Ben-Gurion airport near Tel Aviv upon returning from a lengthy trip to the United States, Netanyahu refused to give a clear answer when asked whether he would run for prime minister.

He said he ''would consult first of all with my family, and my associates and myself'' and would make a decision soon.

Because of the violence, Netanyahu said ''the nation is gripped by fear.''

During his 1996-1999 tenure, Netanyahu struck a tough security stance and was perceived by Palestinians and the United States as stalling peace negotiations. Barak handily defeated him in elections and took office 18 months ago.

Meanwhile, the political turmoil and the ongoing violence appeared to feed off one another Monday as the region endured another tense day. Nearly 300 people have been killed since late September.

Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen waged fierce shootouts near a Jewish shrine in Bethlehem, a West Bank town controlled by the Palestinians. In the Gaza Strip, an explosion killed an Islamic militant who was apparently preparing to plant a bomb.

The Israeli army said Palestinian gunmen attacked the shrine, revered by Jews as Rachel's Tomb, the burial site of the biblical matriarch, from three sides and apparently tried to take it over. Palestinians said the fighting broke out after soldiers and Jewish settlers attacked Muslim worshippers.

The confrontation lasted hours. At one point, Israeli helicopters aiming at Palestinian gunmen fired two rockets at the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem in the West Bank, the army said.

Fourteen Palestinians were injured in fighting in the Bethlehem area on Sunday and early Monday, Palestinian hospitals said.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, returning from a visit to Qatar, said the Israeli shelling ''was a shock because we had agreed to cool down the situation.''

Arafat carried a pistol as he reviewed an honor guard outside his Gaza City office. He said he was carrying the weapon because Jewish settlers blocked Gaza's main north-south thoroughfare, the road he had to travel to reach Gaza City.